Pagina 33 van 483

The time at length arrives when grief is rather an indulgence

than a necessity; and the smile that plays upon the lips,

although it may be deemed a sacrilege, is not banished. My mother

was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform; we

must continue our course with the rest and learn to think

ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not

seized.

My departure for Ingolstadt, which had been deferred by these

events, was now again determined upon. I obtained from my father

a respite of some weeks. It appeared to me sacrilege so soon to

leave the repose, akin to death, of the house of mourning and to

rush into the thick of life. I was new to sorrow, but it did not

the less alarm me. I was unwilling to quit the sight of those

that remained to me, and above all, I desired to see my sweet

Elizabeth in some degree consoled.